Smith, Rippers hoping to duplicate 2023 success at Bedminster

BEDMINSTER, N.J. – The first time LIV Golf played in New Jersey during the inaugural season of 2022, Ripper GC was not yet a thing. The all-Australian team was then known by its original name, Punch GC, and its future captain had just won a major. Cameron Smith, fresh off his Open Championship win at St Andrews, was still a month away from officially joining the league.

But even he knew at the time that Punch GC had to disappear.

“Obviously, the name needed to change,” Smith recalled this week in the lead-up to LIV Golf New York at Trump National Bedminster. “Punch isn’t really an Australian slang.”

So, once he signed, he worked with the league’s creative department to develop a new identity, one that would focus on his homeland. A distinctly Australian slang word – Ripper essentially means “great” or “excellent” – was introduced prior to the 2023 season, as was a new logo that incorporates chevrons positioned like the Southern Cross found on the country’s national flag. In addition, the club’s primary colors became maroon and gold to match the Brisbane Broncos, Smith’s hometown rugby league club.

Fueled by the rebrand, the Rippers embraced their desire to not only represent Australia but also help grow the sport Down Under. LIV Golf Adelaide has been the league’s highest-attended tournament in each of its first four years (2023-26), with the Rippers working in conjunction with the South Australian government to drive interest; 115,000 fans attended the four-round tournament in February as the Rippers won in Adelaide for the second time. Hard to imagine the same impact would’ve been made under the previous Punch banner.

“I don’t think Cam gets enough credit for how good the name is,” said teammate Marc Leishman, Smith’s primary wingman who joined LIV Golf at the same time as his captain.

“We’ve got one of the coolest names in the league,” added the red-hot Lucas Herbert, winner of two of the league’s last four tournaments, including his record-setting 30-under victory two weeks ago in the UK.

A few months after the team’s name change in 2023, Smith made his first start at Trump National Bedminster. It was a wildly successful week, both for him personally and the team. Smith shot 12 under over the three-day tournament to win by a record seven strokes; it remains the largest margin of victory for an individual winner. Leishman, meanwhile, tied for 7th, a key contribution as the Rippers won their first-ever team trophy by a convincing 11 strokes over Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC.

“I remember we all loved the golf course here last time,” Smith said. “… Lots of good memories.”

Added Leishman: “I remember I left on Sunday night here, and I was absolutely exhausted. Every tee shot, you feel like you have to hit the fairway or you feel like you’re pushing water uphill. It tests every part of your game. It’s long. The rough is brutal. The greens are perfect, but you have to be in the right sections of them. Obviously we had a great week as a team, and watching Cam win there pretty convincingly was fun and made the team side of it a lot less stressful.”

Smith and Leishman are the only two Rippers left from that 2023 lineup. Herbert didn’t join the league until 2024, while reserve Travis Smyth was not in the league after competing at Bedminster as a member of Punch in 2022. Elvis Smylie, now sidelined with an injury, only joined LIV Golf this year.

The strange thing is that of those five Australians, Smith has gone the longest without an individual win, as that seven-stroke victory at Bedminster in 2023 remains his last career win on any circuit. Since then, Herbert has won four times, including his two LIV Golf titles this year; Leishman has two wins, including LIV Golf Miami in 2025; Smylie has posted all three of his career wins, including in his LIV Golf debut in Riyadh to start this season; and Smyth has two wins this year, including International Series Japan that helped opened a path to his LIV Golf participation in the second half of this season.

On any other tour, Smith would’ve entered this week having gone three years without hoisting a trophy. But LIV Golf’s team component has allowed him to experience success as he works to regain his major-winning form. Since that first team win at Bedminster, the Rippers have won seven more times, including the 2024 Team Championship in Dallas. Their celebrations with shoeys helps to mitigate any individual frustrations.

“I definitely haven’t played how I wished I had played over the last couple of years,” Smith said. “But Leish says it a lot – when you’re out of a tournament and the team is doing quite well, it makes you grind for something else and makes you a better golfer.

“You don’t get those experiences anywhere else. I’ve felt, over the last few years when I haven’t been playing my best golf coming down the stretch, a lot of pressure to kind of show up for the team; otherwise, I would have just been finishing 20th or 30th or 40th and it not really mean much. For sure, I think it makes you grind it out, and in the long run hopefully makes you a better golfer.”

Perhaps a return to Bedminster will unlock the path back to individual success. One thing he will never return to, however, is repping Punch GC – even though he has plenty of apparel left from that first season.

“Got about 20 hats at home that I’ve stored in the back of the cupboard,” Smith said. “They might have moths growing on them at the moment, but I know exactly where they are.”